


Cleared

by baileyrayne



Category: The Brave (TV 2017)
Genre: Emotions, F/M, Family, Friendship, Multi, Team, Team as Family, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 20:10:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13442427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baileyrayne/pseuds/baileyrayne
Summary: She could’ve handled it, it’s what she signed up for after all. She couldn’t understand how her team could risk themselves for the almost impossible task of rescuing her. She knew the protocols and she knew that they needed to get themselves out of Tehran as soon as possible. Yet they didn’t. They came to rescue her without hesitation. She had never had anyone care for her enough to risk their own safety to get her back.A little deeper look into the minds of Jaz and Dalton in 1x11.





	Cleared

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys. My name is Bailey, and this is my first work posted to AO3. I've always loved to write, but I rarely have the time for it, since I am in my last year in college and have a lot going on. I've always been a huge reader and supporter of the talent here on AO3.  
> I've been a fan of The Brave since it began, and I fell as though I have read almost every fic there is related to it. So, I decided to try my hand at it.  
> Because I am so busy, I most likely won't be doing any kind of multi-chapters because I don't want to keep anyone waiting for a chapter that could take forever to come.  
> I hope you enjoy!

No one was walking on eggshells around her, and Jaz appreciated it. Of course, they were worried and it showed in the small things, but they didn’t pity her and they didn’t treat her like an invalid. Things were mostly the same, especially the evenings. Amir and McG taunt each other in a game of horseshoes while Preach reads his girls to sleep over thousands of miles away. Adam lounges by the fire with a beer in his hand and Patton at his feet. The one change was in Jaz.

After her capture and subsequent rescue, she took more time to observe her team. She watched Preach interact with his family over the phone. She watched his grin go ear to ear and his eyes roll when his daughters asked for a new dress or a new toy. She watched Amir cook breakfast in the mornings, scrambling eggs and making bread while McG teased him about his upbringing. She watched McG run around with the children on the beach, either playing soccer or some form of tag. And she watched Adam. She watched him try to train Patton. She watched him read, and she watched him watch her.

It was never for very long and at first, she didn’t notice it. By day eight after making it home to Turkey, she caught on. At first, she assumed he was just worried about her and making sure she wasn’t crumbling. But when the call came through that Mari Diaz had a plane full of hostages and she was sidelined, Jaz figured it may be something else.

“For the record? This blows,” she scowled, stalking towards the door leading outside.

She knew she wasn’t officially cleared, and she understood that there were policies and procedures in place for a reason. However, Jaz believed that getting back out into the field would be the thing to really help her put Tehran behind her. She knows she will never forget what happened to her, but going back out on a mission would prove to others, and most importantly, herself that she was still a strong and capable woman who excels in a man’s world. She proved it to her mother when she quit ballet lessons at ten to take boxing lessons, she proved it to her father when she left home after graduation to join the military, and she proved it to every soldier and commanding officer who thought she was too emotional and angry to be in the military.

“Jaz! Jaz! Kahn!” Adam shouted, following Jaz outside. She was sitting on the hood of a Humvee, staring out at the beach. “Jaz, you know that I want you with us on this one. You know that.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to like it. I need this Top. I really need this win. I need to prove that I’m still the soldier you wanted to join this team,” she said, still looking forward. Adam comes to stand next to her, leaning his elbows on the hood. “I feel useless just sitting here while my gu- while you guys are out there dealing with someone like Diaz.”

“You don’t need to prove yourself to anyone, least of all Preach, Amir, McG and I. You’ve proven yourself over and over again in the past, most recently in Tehran. Now I know you don’t want to talk about that with us, and that’s okay. I know you are handling it, and if you need any of us, you have us. You are one of the strongest people I know, Jaz,” Adam spoke softly, the soft wind almost carrying his voice away. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “We want you with us. We know how strong you are, but until you’re cleared, there’s nothing I can do.”

“Yeah, I get it. You should go, you guys need to get to Colombia. I’ll be fine. Maybe I’ll try to beat my high score. Or maybe I’ll be able to teach Patton to lay down, you keep striking out after all,” Jaz said, trying to infuse an offhanded tone to her comment as she slid off the hood.

“Jaz…” Adam trailed off, trying to get her to understand.

“Go Top. You’ve got a plane of hostages to save. I’ll still be here when you get back.”

Adam watched her retreat back into the barracks, heading towards her room. He scrubbed his hands over his face and turned to follow. Adam returned to the rest of his team, wordlessly grabbing his bag and leading the other three to the plane. They had a job to do.

 

 

Adam’s breath caught as soon as he heard McG’s words through the comms. A bomb on the plane added a whole new element to the situation. Talking down Diaz and keeping her from killing any more hostages was already a huge task. Adam found his way to the tight space where the bomb was located, trying to laugh off the tension the situation created.

“How does he laugh at a time like this?” Adam heard Noah ask over the comms.

“Because it keeps me from crying, that’s how,” Adam responded, even though the question wasn’t directed at him. Adam understood that there was a different kind of tension that command felt back in DC tham was felt by his team out in the field. When you’re tasked with disabling a bomb while hostage takers threaten innocent lives above you, you have to choose between being upset and laughing off the dangers.

McG, Preach and Amir continued to try to get their breach time under 10 seconds while Adam worked on disabling the bomb. 

“Man I wish we had Jaz with us on this one,” McG muttered when the group went to start again. He was certainly worried about Jaz and how being benched would affect her. While she was mostly healed physically, McG knew the emotional scars would stay. 

“We can’t think about how this could go if she was here. She’s not, and while I know we all agree that it is unfortunate, we have to continue with what we’ve got and help the people on that plan,” Preach reminded the other two. “Go again, we have to get this under ten seconds.”

Preach knew that the team felt the absence of their girl, but they couldn’t focus on that while they were dealing with such a volatile situation. Their focus needed to be on Diaz so that they could all return home in one piece.

 

 

“You know, being grabbed, being tortured, I can handle that. My dad hated me from the second I was born a girl,” Jaz spoke softly, aware that Zander was listening carefully. She took a stuttering breath before she continued. “But, um, when _my_ guys came and rescued me?” She shook her head, almost in disbelief.

“That was the first time anyone came to help you,” Xander realized, watching Jaz nod slightly. “First time in your whole life”

 Jaz whispered, “yep,” as she stared ahead at the TV with the game paused. Their conversation continued as she asked how to deal with the worry of having a family that doesn’t have a guarantee to stay around forever. She knew that they were in a difficult line of work and she saw it first hand when Elijah died. Jaz knew that it could have been her next, sitting in that white room. She could’ve handled it, it’s what she signed up for after all. She couldn’t understand how her team could risk themselves for the almost impossible task of rescuing her. She knew the protocols and she knew that they needed to get themselves out of Tehran as soon as possible. Yet they didn’t. They came to rescue her without hesitation. She had never had anyone care for her enough to risk their own safety to get her back.

“I feel like I have to prove myself again. I can’t let myself be compromised like that again. I should have done better, fought harder to get out of that hotel. I never wanted to be the damsel in distress, I wanted to be the knight in shining armor for all those who didn’t have someone care enough to rescue them. But then I became that damsel who needed saving. And sitting here, while my team is out doing their job and saving innocent lives, I feel useless. I hate doing nothing,” Jaz said, raising her head to look at Xander.

“You fought long and hard to stay alive long enough for Dalton and his team to get to you. Everyone needs saving every once in a while, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s not always a physical need for help, but it can be a mental and emotional one as well,” Xander replied. “Anytime you find yourself scared you might lose them, focus on how lucky it is to have them.”

“Thank you,” Jaz whispered, a slight smile pulling at the corners of her lips. She watched as he left and leaned back in the chair. 

She understood his points, but it was still hard to shake the feeling of being useless. Sitting here, playing video games while her team was in the field didn’t help her feel less useless. She had said it before to Adam, but she did not do well doing nothing.

 

 

“Hey, so he cleared you already huh?”

“Mm-hmm. Said I’m as good as new,” Jaz said, a full smile filling her face. It felt good to have her guys back with her and to know that next time they were called, she would be with them.

“Man, I’m really happy to have you back, Jaz. Mainly because it was Amir’s turn on overwatch next, and it was making me really nervous to think about him pointing any gun in my direction,” McG said, laughing at the playful glare Amir shot his way. 

McG, Preach and Amir continued to taunt each other as they moved towards nine ball with a high wager between them.

Jaz watched them leave, seeing Adam look at her from the corner of her eye. “Xander’s good people, yeah?”

“You know him?" 

“We’re well acquainted. You know what, in our line of work I think experience comes at a pretty steep cost. I was in Fallujah in the fall of ’04. And the op tempo was so high, and we couldn’t even keep track of the numbers that we were racking up. By that time, I mean I had spilled so much blood. You get a taste for it, you know? My CSM had to pull me off of some asshole whose throat I’d just slit ‘cause he killed one of my friends. And it wasn’t enough that I killed him. You know, I wanted to take his head and I wanted to hang it on a wall, over my rack. I lost sight of what made me better than them. I don’t I don’t know if, um if we have to have a dark side to do what we do, Jaz. But I know that I met mine, and uh, no matter what I do, that guy never goes away,” Adam continued, staring at the sparks coming from the fire.

Jaz watched him as he spoke, realizing this was a rare moment where Adam opened himself up to his team. He was one of the most secretive on the team, with valid reasons to be. Yes they were their own little family, but he was still their commanding officer and he still had to be professional.

“I feel like I fight that darkness in me every day. I know that what we do saves people, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But it scares me how much we’ve grown as a family here, because I don’t know what any of us would do if something were to happen to one of us. I expected you all to follow protocol and get out of Tehran, and I would have been okay with that. That’s what the job says. But you all stayed and risked yourselves for me, and I don’t fully understand that,” Jaz said, turning her body to face his.

“You are our family, Jaz. You’re _my_ family. I couldn’t live with myself if I had left you there without trying every idea we came up with. You are so strong, and you fought so hard in Tehran. We knew going in that there were going to be roadblocks, but I didn’t expect it to go the way it did. It is no one’s fault but Jarif’s for sending that truck towards us on the beach that day. You stopped him from hurting anyone else, and only you could have done that. I heard you this morning, I did. You have absolutely nothing to prove to me or anyone else on this team. Because we know how talented you are and we know what a fighter you are. We don’t want anyone else but you with us,” Adam said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “We are a family and I know we would do anything for each other. There is nothing wrong with that.”

“Thank you, Top. Thank you for coming for me. That was the most scared I’ve been, but I was even more scared when I thought you all had outed me and left. He put all these worries and fears in my mind, one of them being that I would lose you. Lose all of you because I got myself captured,” Jaz began.

“Jaz-“ Adam tried to interrupt.

“I know it’s not my fault now. I know that and I understand it. I may not have agreed with you this morning for benching me, but after speaking with Xander, and with you, I feel like I needed the day to recognize my fears and address them head on. And I will be ready when the next call comes through, to watch your guys’ back. Because you are _my_ guys and I will always protect you,” Jaz finished, smiling at Adam.

“I will always have your back too, Jaz. You can count on me,” Adam responded, smiling back at her.

They both felt something shift in their dynamic. Or maybe that shift had always been there and they were only just now realizing it. There was something more to their relationship than teammates, or friends. They couldn’t put a name on it, and maybe they weren’t ready to.

Preach had turned to watch his CO and their sniper resolve their worries and concerns. He had been watching the two of them since the team was put together, and he knew that while a terrible ordeal for Jaz to go through, it had forced Adam to realize his feelings. While he hasn’t acted on them, Preach knew they were there, and that Jaz reciprocated them. Those two would always be a well-oiled machine, and Preach would continue to watch from afar, and give the two the little pushes they needed. He smiled to himself and turned to face Amir and McG as the two taunted each other over a game of nine ball.


End file.
